Bengali Marriage – The Wedding Day

By now its evening and its time for the main event. The main event of a Bengali wedding starts when the groom arrives at the brides place for the marriage. The welcoming ceremony is known as Bor Boron. No sooner than the groom is seated he is gifted with new clothes from the brides’ family known as Potto Bastra. Then follows the famous Bengali Matrimony custom of Saath paak – what makes this saath paak different in Bengali custom is that the bride is actually lifted by four men on a wooden stool and made to circle the groom in that position . A great sight to behold!!

After the saath paak there is Mala Bodol, which means exchange of garlands , and then bride looks into her husband’s face through the beetle leaves that she was holding on her face . A typical moment to cherish embedded in Bengali romanticism. The following rituals consists of samprodan, Yagna, Anjali and the Wedding is solemnized by sindoor dan which officially makes the bride and the groom, man and wife.

If you thought that was the end – well hang on!! There is more…..

Post Wedding rituals are as interesting as the main event. According to the Bengali Matrimony custom the groom is supposed to stay at bride’s place on the Wedding night where the newlywed couple is supposed to stay awake all night and participate in all the fun and merriment, then comes Basi biye and Bidai. On the arrival to the groom’s house the bride is welcomed by her mother-in law which is known as bou boron, that night the bride and the groom are not supposed to see each other’s face and its termed as Kal ratri. On a new day the bride serves rice to all the guests known as bou bhatt. its followed by the reception and finally the brie and the groom is allowed to enjoy each other’s company in solitude after the ordeal of three long days , which we loving called phol sajya which means sleeping on a bed of flowers .

That brings us to the end of a three day long huge ceremony called “biye“ (marriage) and like a princess diary would like to conclude by saying ‘and they lived happily ever after’.